St Croix Postspawn Channels are back on!!

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The St Croix is in perfect summer cat condition. Water is at normal pool elevation of 675.5' and clear. The water temp is in the high 70's. Last night conditions were perfect and the channel cat bite was awesome.

I started fishing at 1930 and pulled 3-Ways for an hour with no luck. I moved up to one of my favorite channel spots and cut up a nice sucker that my grandson had caught earlier in the afternoon. That bait no sooner hit the water and the channels were all over it. Here is the information from my log last night:

2046 18" Flathead on cut bullhead

2053 Missed run on cut sucker

2057 23" channel on cut sucker

2105 27" channel on cut sucker

2147 Missed run on cut sucker

2155 26" channel on cut sucker

2210 27" channel on cut sucker

2235 29" channel on cut sucker

The breeze came up about 2300 and I decided it was time to go in. The weather was just beautiful: Clear, birght moon, light breeze. After the terrible showing on Saturday night the St Croix was perfect last night. I'm heading out again tonight and see if I can Repeat.

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I was out again last night (Tuesday, 7/16) with a friend but the bite had slowed considerably. It was still an absolutely gorgeous night. We picked up two channels (31" and 24") and the bite was not as aggressive. We had a lot of swings and misses. My buddy has not fished circle hooks much and I couldn't get him to stop with these huge hook sets. That big hook set is too automatic for some fishermen.

I got one nice 31" channel but it was not an upgrade. The girth measurements are way down since they are postspawn. This one measured 31" X 17" so it was just shy of a KOTC upgrade for me. Most of the channels I am seeing are kind of skinny.

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Just got in - SKUNKED. What a beautiful night but nothing to show for it. Had one on about 2215 and it unplugged after about 20 seconds. The beautiful evening made up for the lack of fish - I do need a good Twins game to listen to though. They are back tomorrow night - maybe the fishing will come back too.

Hard to believe how the bite changed this week. Monday 5 channels and 1 flat; Tuesday 2 Channels; Wednesday only fished 45 minutes and nothing; and tonight fished with 2 friends with 5 rods in the water from 2000 to 2230 and was skunked - missed one after about a 20 second fight. I fished the same spot each night doing the same thing as Monday night but I just lost the bite.

I'm moving down into Lake St Croix between Stillwater and Hudson next week and I'm going to spend the entire week drifting and see if I can find fish. Time to chase some channels on the big water.

I will get the archery, and go whenever I feel like it... I like that! But first I will work on getting my son onto another bird. I really like the changes that the DNR have implemented the last few years!

Yes, it's sad that people push the limits without being prepared. People are anxious to get out. I checked this lake tonight and I think I was the third person to set foot on the ice already. The first spud check was already frozen solid.